workout log?

[Marianne Urbanski]

Hi Everyone:
I am wondering if anyone has a good way to track their progress with cross fit: ie: some sort of excell or something that is easy to sort and look up previous workouts to track progress. I am new to this and for 2009 I really want to track my improvements.
I am a relatively small (5'1" --with small heels!!), 115-117 lbs, self employed, single mother (ie: not much "spare" time, but committed to going to the gym at least 3 times a week and working out at home twice/week) and... by the way, I am also a vegetarian. I am looking for support from someone who has been able to pursue cross fit who may have similar challenges. I feel like I am so weak that I will never get the kipping pullup, never mind some of the really cool moves you guys post here! (muscle ups... well forget that!)...

thanks everyone for your help!
Marianne

[Emily Maisannes]

I log my workouts on this site in the workout logs area. Subscribe to your own thread so it shows up in the User CP and you don't have to go wading through page after page of everyone else's logs! I was thinking of starting to track my benchmark workouts better, but I work out at an affiliate, and my coach does that for me. The added benefit of tracking your workouts on this site is that people will chime in to help you and encourage you.

I feel your pain on the pull ups. I walked in expecting it would be a year before I could do one. I was 5'4" and 165 and I got my first one weighing ~155 and after CFing for less than four months. I can't do a dead hang and my kip isn't so hot, but my chin has made it over the bar every time I've tried. I'm still stuck on single attempts, but I'll get a double soon. I just need to work on the upper body strength. I know a MU is a long way off, but I'll get there eventually. I know I need to carve off another 20 lbs or so before it will happen. The pull ups will come more easily, too, once I take off the permanent 20 lb weight vest!

[Aaron Austin]

I write mine in a spiral notebook. It's not hard to compare history as Crossfit always gives the compare to date. I goes everywhere I go at the gym.

[Brian Doll]

Marianne, I was in the same boat this summer when I started doing Crossfit. I built an online tool to help track my progress.

http://statulo.us (w/f safe)
The big difference between statulo.us and everything else is that it provides graphs of your progress, per workout category. You can graph body weight, running times, Crossfit named workouts and anything else you think up. For me, visually seeing my own progress on a graph has been very motivating.

As of yesterday, I'm down 50# in 5.5 months and doing all WODs as prescribed. With every single workout logged on http://statulo.us (w/f safe) it's amazing to see that progress in every graph.

I'd love to know it helped out yet another crossfitter achieve their goals!
b

[Jason Scheffler]

Marianne, do a search of the board. I remember reading about an Excel spreadsheet as well as an Open Office database that folks have done and are sharing. I'm trying out the Open Office one myself.

Also if you prefer an online method there's always http://www.logsitall.com wf/s

[Dennis Godfrey]

I found this http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=29684&highlight=excel (WFS)in the logs section, they guy made a excel spreadsheet, didn't try myself I use a blog do keep track.

[Melissa Urban]

I use my blog to keep track of my workouts too. One of the best parts about the blog format is you can give each post a "tag" - like "deadlift" or "Christine". It then turns the tag into a link.

When you click on the link, it will show you every entry you've made that is tagged with that phrase. It makes it really easy for me to see the weight I moved or the time I logged the last time I did that exercise or workout - no searching required.

[Amy Jo Hines]

Marianne,

I use Sweat365 (wfs) for my daily workouts - its basically a blog with some statistics & custom fields built in. I recently started a thread under 'Workout Logs' so that I have a backup of my data.

Originally Posted by Melissa Byers

I use my blog to keep track of my workouts too. One of the best parts about the blog format is you can give each post a "tag" - like "deadlift" or "Christine". It then turns the tag into a link.

Wow that's a great idea - I'm going to do that! Now

Originally Posted by Brian Doll

http://statulo.us (w/f safe)
The big difference between statulo.us and everything else is that it provides graphs of your progress, per workout category. You can graph body weight, running times, Crossfit named workouts and anything else you think up. For me, visually seeing my own progress on a graph has been very motivating.

I just tried this out and wanted to say Great Job Exporting to an Open Office spreadsheet worked flawlessly. I put in my old data (not much of it unfortunately) and I'll be adding "Jackie" tonight. Thanks!

[Marianne Urbanski]

Originally Posted by Melissa Byers

I use my blog to keep track of my workouts too. One of the best parts about the blog format is you can give each post a "tag" - like "deadlift" or "Christine". It then turns the tag into a link.

When you click on the link, it will show you every entry you've made that is tagged with that phrase. It makes it really easy for me to see the weight I moved or the time I logged the last time I did that exercise or workout - no searching required.

I actually started a log here a couple of days ago.. this tag sounds great. Can you tell me how you do it?

[Marianne Urbanski]

Originally Posted by Brian Doll

Marianne, I was in the same boat this summer when I started doing Crossfit. I built an online tool to help track my progress.

http://statulo.us (w/f safe)
The big difference between statulo.us and everything else is that it provides graphs of your progress, per workout category. You can graph body weight, running times, Crossfit named workouts and anything else you think up. For me, visually seeing my own progress on a graph has been very motivating.

As of yesterday, I'm down 50# in 5.5 months and doing all WODs as prescribed. With every single workout logged on http://statulo.us (w/f safe) it's amazing to see that progress in every graph.

I'd love to know it helped out yet another crossfitter achieve their goals!
b

I like the idea of doing it here too for the graphing and charting. some of you have a couple of ways to chart your progress.. I think I will use this too.. thanks everyone for all your help. I really believe unless something is measured, it doesn't improve, so I want to really get serious about tracking my workouts and progress. Thanks again everyone!!